1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium, and more particularly, to a recording medium, and a method and apparatus for recording defect management information on the recording medium. Although the present invention is suitable for a wide scope of applications, it is particularly suitable for efficiently managing defect management information and for facilitating a sorting process of defect entries configuring the defect management information.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
The optical disc is widely used as a recording medium capable of recording (and/or storing) a large amount of data. Particularly, a high-density optical recording medium capable of recording/storing high-quality video data and high-quality audio data, for example, a Blu-ray Disc (BD), has been being developed for a long period of time. The BD acting as the next-generation recording medium has been considered to be the next-generation optical recording solution capable of recording/storing much more data than a conventional DVD. In recent times, the international standard technical specification associated with the BD has been established along with those of other digital devices.
Many developers have conducted intensive research into the introduction of a preferable recording method, and more particularly, an optimum method of recording and managing defect management information using a next-generation recording medium, such as the BD. However, the technical standard for the BD has not yet been established, and, therefore, the developers have difficulty in developing the completed BD-based optical recording/reproducing apparatus.